Guides for two-lot strata owners
Written by a Class 1 licensed strata manager for owners who never asked to become strata experts. Each guide answers one question and tells you what to actually do.
Do two-lot strata schemes need a capital works fund?
NSW owners corporations must normally keep a capital works fund and 10-year plan, but a two-lot scheme can resolve not to (s 74(5)). What that means, how to decide, and how to record it properly.
Do two-lot strata schemes still need an AGM?
Under the 2026 reforms a two-lot "small strata scheme" no longer needs an annual general meeting or a committee — decisions are made by written resolution of both owners. What still has to happen each year, and what to do until the new rules start.
Do we need a strata manager for a duplex?
NSW law does not require a two-lot scheme to appoint a strata managing agent. Here is what you must still do yourselves, when it's worth paying someone, and what a fixed-fee service should and shouldn't cost.
My neighbour won't cooperate — what can I do?
In a two-lot scheme every decision needs both owners. When your neighbour won't respond, won't pay or won't agree, here are the practical steps, from documenting the request to mediation and NCAT.
Selling your half: the Section 184 certificate explained
When a duplex lot sells, the buyer's conveyancer will ask for a Section 184 certificate. What it is, who must provide it, the 14-day deadline, the regulated fee, and why self-managed duplexes get stuck.
How to switch strata manager for a two-lot scheme
Step by step: check your agreement's notice period, decide by written resolution, appoint the new agent, terminate the old one, and get the records handed over. What the Act requires and the traps to avoid.
Two-lot strata: the new rules, explained for you and your neighbour
A plain-English walkthrough of the 2026 changes for duplex and two-lot strata schemes in NSW: what a "small strata scheme" is, what falls away, what stays, key dates, and a checklist for both owners.
What should a duplex be paying for strata?
A realistic breakdown of what a two-lot strata scheme in NSW pays each year: insurance, maintenance, management or administration, and the one-off costs like Section 184 certificates. Includes what to challenge.
- 1 October 2026: two-lot schemes stop lodging the annual Strata Hub report (NSW Fair Trading, "Changes to strata laws").
- Small strata scheme rules (no meetings, decisions by written resolution of both owners, new s 7A): in a Bill that has passed the Legislative Assembly and is before the Legislative Council. They start on a date to be proclaimed. Until then, where the law still requires a meeting we hold a short online one for you at no extra cost.
- Unchanged: the duty to insure the building for full replacement value in the owners corporation's name, to keep common property in repair, to keep a strata roll and records, and to provide a Section 184 certificate when a lot is sold.
No meetings, no commissions, no money handled. Both owners sign online.